Trans-base tunnel reader for sequencing

• US 10,442,771 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2017
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents (University of Arizona)
• Original Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents (University of Arizona)
• Inventors: Lindsay, Stuart, Zhang, Peiming
• Primary Examiner(s): Aguirre, Amanda L
• Application Number:
  US15/417,903
• Publication Number:
  US 20170204066A1
• Time in Patent Office: 991 Days
• CPC Class Codes: C07D 235/24 with hetero atoms or with carbon atoms having three bonds to hetero atoms with at the most one bond to halogen, e.g. ester or nitrile radicals, directly attached in position 2
• CPC Class Codes: C12Q 1/6869 Methods for sequencing
• CPC Class Codes: C12Q 2565/631 being a biochannel or pore
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/447 using electrophoresis
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/44791 Microapparatus sample containers with integrated microfluidic structures B01L3/5027
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/48721 Investigating individual macromolecules, e.g. by translocation through nanopores Coulter counters in general G01N15/12; fabrication methods for nanoscale apertures B81B1/00; sequencing of nucleic acids C12Q1/68

Abstract

The present invention is directed to systems, devices and methods for identifying biopolymers, such as strands of DNA, as they pass through a constriction such as a carbon nanotube nanopore. More particularly, the invention is directed to such systems, devices and methods in which a newly translocated portion of the biopolymer forms a temporary electrical circuit between the nanotube nanopore and a second electrode, which may also be a nanotube. Further, the invention is directed to such systems, devices and methods in which the constriction is provided with a functionalized unit which, together with a newly translocated portion of the biopolymer, forms a temporary electrical circuit that can be used to characterize that portion of the biopolymer.

Claims

1. A compound for trapping and reading an analyte in a tunnel junction, wherein the compound is

2. A composition comprising the compound of claim 1.

3. A molecular recognition device configured to identify at least one portion of a target molecule, the device comprising the compound of claim 1.

4. The molecular recognition device of claim 3, further comprising:

a substrate;

a first nanotube passing through at least a portion of the substrate, the first nanotube provided with a nanopore and configured and dimensioned to permit the translocation of a target molecule therethrough;

a second nanotube supported by the substrate and disposed in a fixed relationship with respect to said first nanotube so as to form a first gap with the first nanotube; and

an electrical circuit configured to detect an electrical current between the first and second nanotubes, upon passage of the target molecule past said gap;

wherein the first nanotube comprises a first recognition element connected to an end thereof, the second nanotube comprises a second recognition element connected to a first end thereof, and wherein the first recognition element comprises (6)-mercapto-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-2-carboxamide.

5. The molecular recognition device of claim 4, wherein the second recognition element comprises (6)-mercapto-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-2-carboxamide.